Earthquake near Sutton-Alpine, AK

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 3 km (2 mi) from the epicentre. In Sutton-Alpine, 21 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Fishhook, Farm Loop, Lazy Mountain.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2023-01-16 — about 32,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.9 23 km NE of Willow, Alaska · 37 km W of this epicentre Jan 1, 1975
2. 5.8 37 km ENE of Susitna North, Alaska · 46 km N of this epicentre Jul 3, 1929
3. 5.8 14 km NNE of Fishhook, Alaska · 5 km SW of this epicentre Aug 14, 1984
4. 5.3 3 km NNE of Houston, Alaska · 47 km WSW of this epicentre Sep 1, 1966
5. 5.1 21 km SSE of Susitna North, Alaska · 36 km WNW of this epicentre Dec 30, 1974

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 61.8911, -149.0300. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

56 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

1. 1.9 42 km NNW of Chickaloon, Alaska 22:45 UTC
2. 2.1 23 km SE of Susitna North, Alaska 22:40 UTC
3. 1.9 5 km NE of Sutton-Alpine, Alaska 20:58 UTC
4. 2.6 7 km N of Sutton-Alpine, Alaska 15:41 UTC
5. 1.8 9 km S of Gateway, Alaska 08:22 UTC
6. 1.5 42 km NNW of Chickaloon, Alaska 23:43 UTC
7. 1.9 4 km W of Wasilla, Alaska 13:36 UTC
8. 1.9 25 km SE of Susitna North, Alaska 00:27 UTC
9. 1.5 20 km ESE of Susitna North, Alaska 00:21 UTC
10. 3.1 12 km SSE of Wasilla, Alaska 09:28 UTC
11. 1.9 6 km WSW of Wasilla, Alaska 21:28 UTC
12. 2.5 30 km N of Sutton-Alpine, Alaska 22:19 UTC
13. 1.6 45 km N of Chickaloon, Alaska 18:34 UTC
14. 2.2 19 km ESE of Susitna North, Alaska 16:39 UTC
15. 2.0 38 km ENE of Susitna North, Alaska 21:29 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 13:34 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.